I Forgot The Holy Water

There are some jobs that should never be taken no matter how much they pay. Aliarey used to know that. She even made it a point to avoid anything too dangerous because she valued her own safety above all else. The blonde wasn't looking to be a hero or a big time villain. Being a simple mage that just worked to fill her pockets with more jewels was enough to satisfy her. That was it. That was her life and her only real goal. So how was it that the Requip mage ended up in the middle of nowhere to complete a job that would only add to her collection of nightmares?

It started as it always did. Aliarey was broke. She had spent most of the jewels earned from her last job on some new weapons and food. What had been left was taken by her adoptive brother. She couldn't blame him for that. After all, she did steal from his wallet first to party during New Year's. It sucked but he could have made her life much worse. She'd take that small amount of good fortune to start the year.

The Talonia job board didn't have many job options. Nothing that passed her checklist anyway. She wasn't overly picky but there were only so many low paying delivery jobs that she could stomach. She needed a big score. Something also unrelated to the current war going on too. She was staying faaarrrr away from that mess even if the Ironheart Pact was paying big jewels for mage support. Ha. That was funny.

There was one job that had been buried under the newer postings. It was so old the paper had turned an aged yellow. Alia could see why. The details were vague. Very vague. Nearly nonexistent vague. The only information given was the location, client name, and the jewel amount. That should have been suspicious. What made her decide to take that job couldn't even be called desperation because she was far from it.

Dumb curiosity? The fact it was the only high paying job posted? Boredom? She wasn't sure if even those reasons were what made her take it. Friends that had watched her take the paper had even warned her that something was off about that job. Everyone that took it never came back. Aliarey uncharacteristically took it anyway. Almost as if something possessed her to do so. A supernatural force that attracted all manner of high ranking mages regardless of personalities that would have denied the job.

That was days ago.

Aliarey was close to the job site now. A large village in the middle of some forgotten piece of land well off into the Unknown Lands region of a map. She hadn't yet explored the village or the path that led up to it. Dressed in one of her combat outfits she was doing anything but. The blonde was waiting for someone.

Obviously, Aliarey had no desire to do a high ranking mission alone. Trey was busy thankfully so he couldn't weasel his way into it. Though he did call her insane for even checking out the place. Her official teammate might think the same. Diana had been the one to be invited to participate and get that big score of a reward. What her opinion was of the job Aliarey didn't know just yet. She kind of didn't inform Diana that there were like no details about the job. It was just left for her to assume that she'd be briefed when she arrived.

Like usual Aliarey had sent Diana the meeting coordinates at least. How'd she get there she didn't know. She had enough trouble getting her own butt there. It would have been expensive to rent out a flying vehicle to swing by and pick her up. Alia wasn't worried though. Diana always showed up. All she had to do was wait.

Sitting on a large rock, Aliarey played the waiting game. She leaned against the wooden sign at the back. A sign that looked as old as time. The lettering carved into it was barely legible. Her eyes stared out into the surrounding woods. It was quiet. Maybe a little too quiet. It was daylight though so the creep factor was significantly less. Still, she hoped Diana would be there way before night settled in, or sent her a text on the iLac to let her know of any delays.

(Word Count: 741)

Wearing her usual outfit of purple t-shirt, black skirt with pockets, white thigh-high stockings, and black tennis shoes, Diana had Saint Sinner Valentine slung on her right shoulder and carried her iLac in the backpack she was wearing in case the job she had been invited to was one that involved a lot of running and movement. She depended on her iLac to meet up with Aliarey and if she lost the communications device she would have a very hard time coordinating anything with her friend. Speaking of her friend, Aliarey had sent a message asking if Diana wanted in on a job and the green-eyed blonde had accepted. Diana was now heading to the prearranged meeting place as fast as she could walk without breaking into a jog or a run, but there was still a bit of travel left to do before she reached the area.

It was a good thing Diana had left home early enough to start traveling while there was still plenty of daylight. The foot traffic on the way out of Capital Crocus was dense and the vehicular traffic was even more dense. The density of the vehicular traffic was not helped by the fact that there had been multiple fender benders that had slowed traffic to a standstill. While the hapless drivers were stuck behind the vehicles until the mess was cleared Diana walked right by them on the sidewalk without breaking stride.

While walking to the meeting place Diana could not help but to begin wondering why she had not been given even a basic description of what the job she was going to do with Aliarey entailed. She briefly wondered if they was anything her friend was holding back before she quickly got rid of that thought because of how absurd it was. Other people might use and mislead Diana for their own ends or just because they found deceiving others to be fun, but Aliarey would never do such a thing. Aliarey had been her friend for a very long time and even though the blue-eyed blonde had her quirks she had proven trustworthy time and time again.

After ridding herself of the absurd thought Diana reached the meeting place and spotted her friend Aliarey wearing an outfit she did not recall the blue-eyed blonde wearing before today. Aliarey looked ready for a fight while Diana looked like she was ready for a night on the town. Her friend's choice of outfit made Diana wonder whether the blue-eyed blonde knew something the latter did not but quickly dismissed that thought. Maybe Aliarey just wanted to wear something different for a change. The green-eyed blonde quickly moved on from the differences in their outfits and focused on her friend.

"Hello Aliarey." Diana calmly greeted the waiting blonde and gave a small wave with her right hand. After a few moments Diana asked her next question.

"What can you tell me about this job we are doing together?" Diana asked her friend for more details about the job. Details were important to the green-eyed blonde. While there was always a chance of something unexpected happening during a job, Diana wanted to learn as much as she could about the job before she started it so that she had some idea of what she was getting into.

[Post Word Count: 554]
[Diana's Word Count: 554]